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Microsystems have the potential to impact biology by providing new ways to manipulate cells and the microenvironment around them. Simply physically manipulating cells or their environment?using microfluidics, electric fields, or optical forces?provides new ways to separate cells and organize cell-cell interactions. Our lab is focused on using cell manipulation to sort cells following imaging and to study cell-cell interactions, primarily as it relates to stem cell biology. For example, our lab has been developing methods that use optical forces to sort cells following microscopic imaging, we have developed arrays of microfluidic perfusion culture chambers to provide a more controlled soluble microenvironment, as well as patterning methods to control intercellular and intercolony autocrine signaling. Together, these tools provide news ways to exploit cells? potential for both basic science and applied biotechnology.

Our laboratory has been interested in how carbon nanotubes can be utilized to illustrate new concepts in molecular and energy transfer. In the first example, we predict and demonstrate the concept of thermopower waves for energy generation. Coupling an exothermic chemical reaction with a thermally conductive CNT creates a self-propagating reactive wave driven along its length. We realize such waves in MWNT and show that they produce concomitant electrical pulses of high specific power >7 kW/kg. Such waves of high power density may find uses as unique energy sources. In the second system, we fabricate and study SWNT ion channels for the first time and show that the longest, highest aspect ratio, and smallest diameter synthetic nanopore examined to date, a 500 um SWNT, demonstrates oscillations in electro-osmotic current at specific ranges of electric field, that are the signatures of coherence resonance, yielding self-generated rhythmic and frequency locked transport. The observed oscillations in the current occur due to a coupling between stochastic pore blocking and a diffusion limitation that develops at the pore mouth during proton transport.

Over the course of the last generation, the face of American medicine has changed remarkably. Supported by fee for service payment, rapid adoption of new technologies to aid in diagnosis and treatment has altered the very nature of care and the public's expectations of physicians and institutions. While there is some evidence that some of these technologies have helped to improve some outcomes, the absence of systematic comparative effectiveness research raises important questions about the benefits and costs of these "innovations". In the context of a horizon of shrinking government and private resources to pay for health care and a renewed emphasis on population health management rather than treatment of disease, the market to drive research and development will likely be threatened. This presentation will examine the evolution of the American market for health care services as a driver of innovation internationally and discuss how economic factors and payment reform will likely affect the speed of translation of science and technological innovation in the coming years.

The MIT community is conducting a great deal of exciting research related energy consumption in built environments. I will begin with a overview of some of the research projects at MIT, ranging from lighting to building controls. I will then do a deeper dive into research being conducted at the Field Intelligence Lab at MIT on the topic of negawatt mining. The term "negawatt" has come to indicate saved, or negative, watts from measures that reduce energy consumption. However, not all negawatts come at an equal cost. In the particular case of building weatherization, some homes have acute but focused problems which can be remedied with relatively simple fixes, while others have pervasive problems that cost a lot more to remedy for the same savings. Clearly, it makes better economic sense to spend precious dollars on the cheap negawatts. We are developing a number of technologies to mine these negawatts effectively, ranging from wide-area scanning with Long Wave IR to personal energy consumption measurement. I will describe these technologies and paint a vision for where this sort of thinking might go in terms of financial incentives and public policy.

Emerging challenges for communities to reduce energy use, improve living and working conditions, ensure the health, safety and well-being of its citizens, and enable the effective operations of its organizations require a new approach to advance the performance and disaster-resiliency of building and infrastructure systems. For example, existing technologies and systems that improve energy efficiency have failed to fully penetrate the potential market despite increasing energy prices and increased awareness of environmental impact. This talk will discuss the opportunities for new research at MIT focused on improving built facilities through a full systems approach, including the interaction among building systems and related infrastructure services. The new approach entails deep collaboration in research, development, and demonstration across the value-added chain, from owners and financial institutions to designers and builders to manufacturers and suppliers. The multi-disciplinary integrated research program ranges from nanoscale advances in materials to the regional economic systems needed to effectively develop and deploy the innovations, and focuses on advances in components and materials, information and control systems, the integration of building and infrastructure systems, and community-scale solutions. Advances in built facilities can engender significant opportunities for new products/services, markets, and industries.